Code Lyoko: Reboot
by Aeron Solo
Summary: You think Code Lyoko is over. You think Aeron Solo is dead. You think XANA is gone for good. YOU'RE WRONG. What you know about Code Lyoko will never be the same again.
1. Foreword

_**Foreword**_

_What is real? What is not? You may think you know the answer to this question, but the truth is, do you really? I haven't found anyone yet who truly knows the answer to this question, and I'm not quite sure that I know the answer fully myself, either._

_Hello. My name is Aeron Solo. I live in the Hoenn region of the Pokémon League. You may be observing the tale being told by my friends labeled __Rise of the Forbidden_._ If so, you would also know that I perished in my effort to destroy Cipher once and for all. The question is, did I truly succeed? I think not. Trying to destroy Cipher is like trying to drive cockroaches to extinction-nearly impossible. If I really did die though, how am I writing to you now? Did I actually survive, or is this a prank letter? The truth is, I did die. But I have rejoined the living. How did it happen, though?_

_This tale that I bring to you is one that tells not of an adventure in the world of Pokémon, but of a world hidden among your world. A world within a world, so to speak. In a certain Kadic Academy, five teenagers reside that fought against a powerful entity called XANA, a program that malfunctioned in development and wanted to destroy our world, for unknown reasons. Through a virtual world called Lyoko, they managed to counter his every attack. In the end, they managed to create a program that terminated all of XANA's plans, but with a terrible price. Franz Hopper left the world, and Aelita Franz Schaeffer was left as an orphan. The gang managed to seal their wounds and start a normal life, which lasted for about half a year._

_The question was, however, was XANA truly gone? Our heroes, the Lyoko Warriors, so to speak, thought so. Yet, you and I both know that well laid schemes often go wrong. This is no exception._

_Now, why am I talking about this? The truth is, I myself became a Lyoko Warrior. I was able to become part of the team that resisted XANA's attempts to destroy planet Earth. Even as my friends are telling Aerín of their tragic story, the Lyoko Warriors and I were working to bring down XANA for the last time. There is one thing that you must know, however: Axel and I once were not twins, but triplets. Fraternal triplets._

_There are many stories contained with this message. I warn you, however, the information within is highly confidential, and you must swear never to tell of this to your parents, or anyone you can't trust to shut their mouths. We have been able to keep doing this because of our secrecy, and we hope to be able to continue if XANA returns for a third time. Thank you for understanding._

_With best wishes to you all,_

_Aeron Solo_


	2. Chapter 1: Return of XANA

A human teenager raced through the icy landscapes of a region made completely of ice, leaving a trail of green energy behind him as he ran. The rate at which he sprinted across the land was incredible, covering in seconds what normal people would take hours to cover.

He looked behind him and saw a manta ray-like creature flying behind him. "Shoot," he muttered. "They've gotten faster."

He stopped and sprang off of the ground, jumping high into the air and landing on top of the unfortunate manta. He whirled out a Japanese daito and stabbed the manta in what looked like an eye, then jumped off. Moments later, the creature exploded.

The teenager landed next to an outcropping and got under cover. He tapped his bracer, and a hologram projected itself into the air. He grimaced when he saw that his life points were running low.

"I've been virtualized too long," he muttered. "Too bad I can't get out of attack range for long enough to get to a tower, and my regenerative powers don't seem to work here."

He peeked out from the outcropping, and immediately pulled his head back when a laser bolt tore through the air to hit it.

"Great. This is definitely not good." The teen had seen a lot of monsters waiting to attack him. He couldn't make a run for the tower without getting shot in the process, and he already had been shot enough that one more would completely obliterate him.

Usually, people that got materialized into Lyoko would de-virtualize when their Life Points were reduced to zero. That wasn't the case here. For reasons that will be revealed later, he wouldn't be able to reform in the real world after getting de-virtualized.

The teen checked the number of monsters again, and ducked behind his cover. There was now only one choice.

The teen held up his hand and called for as much power as he could possibly muster without killing himself. He then unleashed it in a powerful pulse of energy that destroyed all the monsters in one blast. The pulse then continued on to race through the Internet to search for one computer.

The teenager watched the energy go, then crumpled to the ground. _It's all up to you now, _he thought before passing into unconsciousness.

* * *

Jeremy Belpois of Kadic Academy was returning to his room in the school dorm. Ever since XANA had been shut down for good, he and his friends had been able to enjoy a regular life. Since they didn't need to save the world all the time, they had time to work on other things.

Jeremy opened his door and walked in, closing it behind him. He set his bag down and was just about to start on his homework when suddenly his computer beeped.

"Huh?" Usually a beep meant a message, but Jeremy didn't usually get any e-mail messages directly to his computer.

"What's this?" He found a message on his screen.

" 'To Jeremy Belpois, Aelita Schaeffer, Ulrich Stern, Odd Della Robbia, Yumi Ishiyama, and William Dunbar...' " Jeremy felt his insides turn to ice. All of them were part of the same group, the group that had been working to save the world from XANA less than a year ago.

" 'You will not like what this message has to say...' "

* * *

Ulrich Stern and Odd Della Robbia were chatting in the room that they shared together when suddenly Ulrich's phone rang.

"Huh?" Ulrich picked it up and answered it. "Hello?"

"Ulrich, it's Jeremy."

"Hey, Jeremy. What's up?" Ulrich asked.

"Nothing good." Ulrich could detect grim urgency in Jeremy's voice.

"What's the matter, Jeremy?"

"Come to my room now and I'll tell you. Bring Odd, he needs to be here too."

"Alright. See you in a bit." Ulrich turned off his phone.

Odd was looking a bit worried. "What's the matter Ulrich? Why're you so grim?"

"I don't know much, Odd, but I have a bad feeling that something bad is going on."

Odd got up. "So what did Jeremy say, exactly?"

"To go to his room. So we'll go there." Ulrich replied.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Aelita Schaeffer heard a knock at the door. She got up and opened it to see Jeremy.

"Oh, hi Jeremy!" she said, surprised to see him at this time of day.

"Hi Aelita." Jeremy's face was unusually serious.

"Is something wrong?" Aelita asked, worried.

"Yeah. Something is really wrong." Jeremy said. "I'm calling the gang together, because I just got a message."

"About what?" Aelita and Jeremy were now walking through the halls to Jeremy's room.

"You're not going to like it." Jeremy warned her, "And I want to tell all of you at once."

"Alright. Should I call Yumi over?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah. It would be great if you could." Jeremy said, pulling out his phone and dialing William's number. "Hey, William? It's me, Jeremy."

"Jeremy? What's the matter?"

"I need to show you something. Come to my room ASAP."

"Is it something to do with Lyoko?"

"Yeah. It has everything to do with Lyoko."

Aelita was listening, and was now very worried. Whatever it was that Jeremy wanted to show them all, it couldn't be good.

Aelita waited until someone picked up the phone at the other end. "Hello?" she heard.

"Yumi? It's Aelita."

"Aelita? What're you doing, calling at this time of day?"

"Jeremy's calling together the gang. We're meeting at his room right now."

"Alright. I'll head over there right now."

"Be careful Yumi." Aelita warned, and then turned off her phone. "Yumi's coming."

"Good. It shouldn't be much longer, then."

* * *

When Yumi arrived, the others were already there.

"Okay, first of all, Jeremy, I'd like to ask you this: what're we doing here?" William asked.

"Yeah, what's this all about?" Odd asked.

"Earlier today, I got a message on my computer that was addressed to all of us."

Aelita was puzzled. "_All_ of us?"

Jeremy nodded. "All of us."

"What did it say?" Ulrich asked.

Jeremy turned on the screen, then pulled up the message itself. "See for yourself."

The gang crowded around the screen for a look. And they were not liking what they were seeing.

_To Jeremy Belpois, Aelita Schaeffer, Ulrich Stern, Odd Della Robbia, Yumi Ishiyama, and William Dunbar,_

_My name is Aeron Solo. I apologize for contacting you in this manner, but I have no choice. I understand that your lives have been troubled by the AI program XANA in the past, and you are not eager to repeat your experiences. In that case, you will not like what this message has to say._

_Lyoko has been reactivated, and XANA is at large. I have been stopping XANA's attempts to destroy the world for weeks now, before they can get out of hand. I have been virtualized for far too long, however, and my lifepoints are running dangerously low. I exhausted all of my power to defeat all of XANA's monsters at once. I can only send you this message and pray that you will arrive in time. A tower has been activated, and I can barely move at present. I only have so long before XANA materializes monsters to destroy me. Be warned: Lyoko is no longer what you remember it to be._

Jeremy waited until he was sure that everyone was finished reading. "Well? What do you think?"

William's face had a haunted look to it. No one needed an explanation as to why this was. William had been possessed by XANA for a very long time, and as such he was nervous about what this boded for him.

"Jeremy, I think this is a bit farfetched. Are you sure that this isn't some prank?" Yumi asked.

"No. The sender was unidentified, and my computer can't trace the message. It's almost as if the internet itself created it and sent it here."

"Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Ulrich asked, standing up.

Jeremy nodded. "We have to go to the factory. There's no other choice."

Aelita stood up. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

All got up and ran to the factory.

* * *

Elsewhere...

An AH-64D Apache Longbow was stationed on a helicopter pad. The helicopter was just off the production lines, and was ready for action.

A spectre floated like smoke out of an electrical plug. It floated up to the helicopter and slipped inside. Moments later, the helicopter activated without warning.

"Huh?" The man on duty noticed the helicopter activating. "Hey! Hold on!"

He ran over, but stopped when the helicopter activated its rotors and flew into the air, and turned around to face him. He took one look at the weapons, and quickly dove for cover.

He was just in time. The Apache had opened fire with its missiles, and was now wrecking havoc.

"Mayday! Mayday! The Apache is going wacko! There's no one in it, but it's shooting up the base!" the soldier shouted into his radio.

The soldier's comrades heard, picked up their weapons and headed to the pad. They came just in time to see the helicopter launch another missile and then take off into the night sky.

The soldier peeked out from behind his cover and watched it go. "I think we got a major problem on our hands."


	3. Chapter 2: Return to Lyoko

When the elevator doors opened, Jeremy saw that the computer was active. He knew then that something was wrong. He was pretty sure that they had deactivated the computer when they had last been here.

"Great." Jeremy muttered, getting into his seat. He waited as the others went down to the scanner room. "You guys ready?"

"Ready when you are." Ulrich replied, getting into the scanner. Odd and Yumi followed suit.

The scanners closed. "Transfer: Ulrich. Transfer: Odd. Transfer: Yumi. Scanner, Virtualization." A strange wind blew their hair back as they were whipped into Lyoko…

* * *

Three forms appeared in midair over the Glacier Region. They gained color as strange circles moved from head to toe. Then they dropped to the ground.

Ulrich got up. "We're here, Jeremy. Man, it's been awhile since I've felt like this. I kind of feel out of shape."

"Don't worry . You should have plenty of shape to get back into it." Jeremy replied, getting William and Aelita virtualized. The two dropped into Lyoko as well.

"Well, Jeremy? What's the catch?" William asked. Everyone noted that his form was almost the same as what it had been under XANA's control, except a silver triangle with black outlines spiraling down to the center was on his chest instead of the eye. The red was replaced by blue, now. Zweihander, his sword, was restored to its first form.

"There's an unknown signal a few miles north of your position."

"Well? Aren't you gonna send us our vehicles?" Ulrich asked.

"Way ahead of you." Jeremy answered. "Commence vehicle materialization."

Three vehicles materialized in front of the gang: The Overwing, the Overboard, and the Overbike.

"Jeremy? I could use a lift!" William said.

"Hang on, William. There's no vehicle registered for y-" Jeremy suddenly noticed another set of data. "Huh?" He pulled it up. It was William's Black Manta. "Hang on, William. I'm sending you your Black Manta."

"Huh? Why a Black Manta?" William asked, puzzled. "I thought you couldn't materialize monsters?"

"There's data for it under the vehicles. I don't know how it got here, but it looks like it's been attuned to your wishes. You should be able to use Zweihander without reserve if you ride it.

"Got it." William watched as a Black Manta materialized in front of him. "Should I really ride this thing, though?"

"I don't think you have a choice, William. Besides, you could order it to open fire for you."

"Hey, that's a great idea!" William exclaimed as he leapt onto the Black Manta's back.

Ulrich got onto the Overbike and revved its engine. Yumi boarded the Overwing, and then Odd and Aelita jumped onto the Overboard.

"Ready?" Odd asked. The rest nodded. They took off and zoomed into the distance.

* * *

Aeron woke up to find a Krab staring down at him. "Oh, gods, this is not cool," he muttered, grabbing his sword. He barely managed to dive out of the way of the Krab's lower laser.

"Crud." Aeron was weak from his earlier exertions. He wouldn't be able to run for very long, and even in that time, he wouldn't move too quickly. Aeron decided that his best bet would be to take out the Krab right now, while things were still one-on-one.

Aeron ran along the ground in a zigzag formation, managing to out run all of the Krab's shots. He then jumped over the Krab itself and landed on top of its shell.

The Krab began bucking furiously and almost threw Aeron off. Aeron decided that he'd better take out his opponent, so he raised his sword and stabbed it in the eye of XANA. He quickly jumped off.

The Krab stopped most of its movements, and stood as tall as it possibly could, then it fell over and exploded.

Aeron landed, panting. He hadn't felt so exhausted for a few million years. But then, he hadn't expended so much energy in that long, either.

Aeron suddenly heard the sound of a Hornet buzzing through the air. "Blast it," he muttered, huddling behind the nearest cover, an outcropping of ice.

Aeron could see the Hornet flapping its wings at high speed. It hadn't noticed him yet, though, so Aeron held his breath and quietly moved to the other side of the outcropping, then took careful aim at the Hornet. Then he raised his arm and threw his sword.

The Hornet didn't know what hit it. Aeron's had sliced it clean in half. Aeron walked over to his sword and pulled it out of the ground before returning to the outcropping to find a large amount of unexpected guests. A horde of kankerlats.

Aeron swore violently and dove out of the way of a large volley of laser bolts. He hit the ground and rolled into a small ditch, where he threw himself flat so as to avoid a second volley.

"Man, it would be a good time for backup," Aeron muttered. He noticed something out of **both **corners of his eyes and jumped.

A krab and a blok were there and had aimed at him, but ended up hitting each other. B-BOOM!

"Well, I guess my message didn't get thr-"

"LASER ARROWS!" He heard suddenly. A storm of arrow-like projectiles tore through the air and lanced through the kankerlats.

"Well, well. It seems that help has arrived." Aeron said, turning to see a group of five people jumping off three vehicles and a monster and destroyed the kankerlats in short order.

Aelita noticed Aeron first. "Jeremy? We've found our mysterious sender."

"I know. I'm operating the radar." Jeremy replied.

"I know that you guys have a lot of questions, but you need to put them aside. We've got a tower to deactivate. It's a few miles that way." Aeron pointed in a certain direction.

"Well, I think we better head in that direction, then." Ulrich got back onto the Overbike. Likewise, everyone got back onto their respective vehicles.

Aelita suddenly realized something. "Hey, aren't you going to get onto a vehicle?" she asked Aeron.

"If you would care to switch onto another." Aeron replied. "I've wanted to try riding the Overboard for a while, but I haven't quite figured out how to operate the Supercomputer from here."

Odd considered, then said, "Ulrich, scoot forward. I'm gonna see how it is to ride the Overbike as a passenger."

"Oh, uh, okay." Ulrich scooted forward a bit as Odd jumped on the back of the Overbike.

Aeron looked behind them. "Oh, boy. You there, Odd Della Robbia, turn around in your seat. You'll need to shoot backward."

Odd turned around and saw a number of Mantas gliding towards them. "I get your drift," he said, already taking aim.

Aeron jumped onto the Overboard. "Well, I'm gonna get my wish, it seems," he remarked. "Hold on, Aelita."

Aelita barely had time to wonder how he knew who she was before Aeron had suddenly started up the Overboard. Aeron looked backwards at the people he had left in the dust. "Hey, are you guys coming or what?"

They started up their engines and followed, swiftly traversing the icy terrain.

"Those Mantas will probably catch up. They've gotten faster in the last week." Aeron muttered, eyeing the monsters as they gave pursuit.

"Really? How do you know?" Aelita asked, curious.

"When I first ran into those things, they couldn't keep up with me. Now they can keep pace with me for a short period." Aeron answered. He looked back again. "See, they're a bit closer."

Aelita looked back. Sure enough, the Mantas had gained ground on them.

"No choice I guess. Hang on tight; I'm gonna have to use some wild maneuvers." Aeron suddenly whirled the Overboard around and shot back towards the Mantas, taking the monsters by surprise. He had already soared past them and stabbed one by the time they realized that he had passed.

Aeron twisted the Overboard around again, as the Mantas turned to meet them. Aelita conjured an Energy Field and blasted one with it while Aeron wove the Overboard in between a large amount of laser fire.

"You're pretty good. For a beginner." Aelita commented.

"Thanks. Can you take over?"

"What?" a startled Aelita asked just before Aeron sprang off the board and onto a Manta, stabbing it before leaping off and slashing another one in half. Aeron then kicked off the face of a glacier and slashed through three Mantas before they realized what was happening.

Aelita flew underneath Aeron as he landed on the back of the Overboard.

"Pretty good." Aelita commented.

"Thank you." Aeron replied. "I see you're also pretty good at flying."

"Well, I _am_ part of the gang."

"Point taken." They stopped talking as they reached the others.

"Jeremy? Any idea _exactly _where the tower is?" Ulrich asked, looking around.

"You should be coming upon it any moment.

Aeron stared hard at the landscape around them. "Guys, hit the brakes."

"Huh?" all of them asked simultaneously.

"Do it. Now."

They all slowed to a stop.

"Okay, why exactly did we have to st-?"

Ulrich didn't have time to finish his question as a wall of laser energy lanced through the area where they would've been if Aeron hadn't told them to stop.

"What in-?" Ulrich searched for the monster that he knew would be there.

He spotted it. A megatank had been watching them all this time, and they hadn't noticed it.

"I guess I deserve a thank you?" Aeron asked, jumping off the Overboard.

Aelita watched him zoom towards the megatank. "He's unusual, don't you think?"

"Yeah. Pretty unusual." William agreed. "We'll go on. We'll wait for you at the tower and clear the way, okay?"

Aelita nodded, and the others sped off in the direction of the tower. She then turned back to Aeron's little skirmish.

Aeron sidestepped the megatank's blast and then threw his sword, lancing the powerful monster through its eye of XANA. Moments later, the megatank exploded.

Aeron walked over to his sword and picked it up, sheathing it. He then raced back to the others and leapt back onto the Overboard.

"You seem to like taking out monsters." Aelita noted.

Aeron shrugged. "Hey. I like a good workout. Is there anything wrong with that?"

Aelita just sighed and started up the Overboard, following the rest of the gang.


	4. Chapter 3: Enter, Kitsune!

The rogue Apache Longbow was flying over the city towards the Factory.

Jeremy noticed it showing up on the factory cameras. "Uh-oh, that's not good."

"What's up, Einstein?" Odd asked.

"An Apache Longbow helicopter is on its way here, and it has no pilot."

"Great. A military grade vehicle." Odd said with some sarcasm.

"Maybe we should've put some defenses around the factory," William commented.

Jeremy noticed something on the radar. "Guys, this isn't good. There's an unknown signal somewhere around your location.

"Jeremy, there's nothing here for miles." Odd said.

Famous last words. Suddenly, something speared William, instantly de-virtualizing him.

Ulrich looked around for the assailant, and his eyes widened in horror. "Crap!"

* * *

"Wha-? NOOOO!!"

Jeremy watched in horror as the strange monster instantly de-virtualized the entire group.

"What is that thing?! I can't even get statistics!" Jeremy slammed his fist down in frustration.

"Jeremy, what's wrong?" Aelita asked.

"A weird new monster just de-virtualized all the others! I don't even know what that thing looks like!"

"That's great, Einstein, but I can't really deal with that right now. I've got something bigger to worry about on my hands."

A new signal promptly showed up on Jeremy's monitor. "What in-?"

"Don't ask. Just let me deal with him." Aeron said, unsheathing his daito.

Aelita swooped low and let Aeron jump off.

"Don't go too far. That guy could be anywhere." Aeron warned.

"I can take care of myself," Aelita replied, taking off for the tower.

"You don't know how Kitsune does things!" Aeron called.

Aelita stopped and turned around. "What?"

"Kitsune has a range of abilities that you've never dealt with in all your battles."

"Who exactly is this "Kitsune"?" Aelita asked.

Suddenly, she was roughly shoved off of the Overboard.

"Whoooaaa!" Aelita shouted.

Aeron blew through his nostrils in annoyance and raced underneath Aelita, catching her.

"That answer your question?" Aeron asked, pointing.

Standing on the Overboard was a tall young man with white hair. He was clad in robes of white and wearing an orange vest. His eyes were angled and slightly slit like, and he had a pair of fox ears on top of his head. His air was that of almost a noble, but there was something about his gaze that made Aelita shiver.

"Greetings, Kitsune. I hope you've come for a social visit." Aeron said.

His response was a mere point of the finger.

"Guess not," Aeron muttered, holding up his sword.

A series of red lines gathered at the tip of Kitsune's index finger, creating a sphere of energy that soon exploded towards Aeron as a beam of energy that shook all of Lyoko with its power.

Aeron slashed, sending a blade of wind down the middle of the blast, slicing through it and sending the two halves of the beam screaming past him to smash harmlessly into the Plateau.

Kitsune narrowed his eyes and flash stepped close to Aeron, swinging a sword conjured seemingly from thin air.

Aeron parried the strike, then played his own sword in a circle and flipping Kitsune's blade out of his hand.

"Lame as always." Aeron remarked, slicing at Kitsune.

Aeron's blade passed harmlessly through the virtual being, causing Aeron to stumble without the expected resistance.

"Easy to fool as always," Aeron heard in his ear. Aeron glanced at the voice and saw a smug Kitsune raise his blade high over his head.

Aeron kicked Kitsune in the midsection, sending him sprawling, and point his finger at him. Three green lines of light surrounded by a golden nimbus gathered at his fingertip and formed a sphere of energy. Three smaller lines were added to the mix, and then three more.

"_Shinsei Taiho,_" Aeron muttered, unleashing the energy in a beam like attack that roared through the air where Kitsune stood.

Kitsune suddenly turned into smoke, causing the blast to roar harmlessly through his substance. He reformed a moment later, twirling his blade.

"I hate him when he does that," Aeron growled, slicing at Kitsune. As he did this, a blade of wind formed and zoomed towards Kitsune, extending the slash.

Kitsune turned into smoke again, allowing the wind scythe to pass harmlessly through him. Just as he reformed, though, Aeron suddenly blasted a green energy pulse into him that finally connected with him, smashing him into the ground.

"Freeze, Kitsune!" Aeron shouted, pointing his sword at him. Lines of freezing energy twirled into a sphere at the tip of his blade, which grew bigger and bigger.

"_Hyouketsu Bakuha! _(Freeze blast)" Aeron shouted, unleashing the icy energy at his fallen foe. It unleashed a circle of energy that flew backward and outwards just as it was unleashed, not to mention a ton of light and wind, blowing Aeron's hair back and causing Aelita to shield herself from just from the recoil energy.

Kitsune had no chance. The freezing blast iced him over, instantly de-virtualizing him.

Aeron watched as the ice faded. "Well, that's that." He twirled his sword in his fingers and sheathed it. He breathed in and out for a bit. "Man, that took a lot out of me. It must be because of my low life points."

"How low exactly are your life points right now?" Aelita asked.

"If I read this accurately, I'd say I have about ten left."

"That low? Did you ever go into a tower?" Aelita asked, shocked.

"I did, but only to pass between sectors. Besides, I haven't regenerated any life points once."

"How'd you deactivate the towers, then?" Jeremy asked, frowning.

"I blasted them until they went offline." Aeron informed them.

"But that's dangerous!" Jeremy exclaimed. "That could sever the connection between Lyoko and the real world!"

Aeron shrugged. "Doesn't really matter. The tower comes back online in a matter of hours. But can you check my avatar? I have a feeling something's wrong with it."

Jeremy opened up Aeron's avatar, and quickly discovered something. "Aeron, you're not gonna like this."

"Tell me anyway."

"You've got a bug that keeps you from regenerating on your own at any time. Even if you entered a tower, your life points won't come back."

"So, what would it take to get back life points?" Aeron asked.

"I could regenerate them for you," Aelita said shyly.

Aeron raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Aelita nodded. "I can do it at the cost of half my own life points."

Aeron frowned. "You sure that's okay?"

Aelita nodded. "I'm sure."

"It would be better if she did that, Aeron, than if you remained at your current level of life points."

"Is it because the bug will cause me to be deleted rather than de-virtualized?" Aeron asked.

"Right. You're pretty smart, you know that?" Jeremy asked.

"I don't know. Maybe." Aeron said.

Jeremy pulled up Aeron's avatar again. "I'll try to get a debug program working to fix the problem. In the meantime, Aelita…?"

"I know." Aelita closed her eyes and pointed her hand at Aeron. Angelic voices began singing somewhere in the background of Lyoko, and then Aeron's form began glowing as his life points were restored to full strength.

"Well, Einstein? How do my life points look?" Aeron asked when the voices stopped singing.

Jeremy glanced at Aeron's life points, then looked again, not believing what he was seeing. "I don't believe this!"

"What is it, Jeremy?" Aelita asked.

"Aeron's life points are higher than anything I've ever seen!"

"Which is, what, one hundred thousand?" Aeron asked.

"Exactly!"

The elevator opened and the others came up.

"Hey, Einstein. What're you freaking out about?" Odd asked.

"Take a look." Jeremy pointed to Aeron's life point value.

"What's so special about-?" Odd's mouth dropped open midsentence. "100,000?!"

Jeremy nodded. "For real!"

Ulrich looked at the monitor. "Jeremy, what's the Apache doing? It's just hovering there."

Jeremy checked. "I don't know, but-HEY!" He suddenly looked at the monitor in shock. "What's a spectre doing there?!"

They looked and saw a way oversized spectre flying high up into the Apache.

"Whatever it is, we can't stop it." Yumi said grimly.

* * *

"Aeron! Aelita!"

"What now, Einstein?" Aeron asked.

"A second spectre flew up to the Apache! Something's up! You've got to deactivate that tower _fast_!"

"Hmm. A second spectre? How big was it?"

"Much larger than anything I've seen so far!"

"I get it. Now I know what XANA's up to." Aeron said.

"What is he up to?" Aelita asked, puzzled.

"Just drive and I'll-!" Aeron cursed suddenly. "Jeremy! We need another vehicle!"

"All of them were de-virtualized. I can give Aelita her wings, but you're going to have to go on foot."

"All right. I can cover a lot of ground on foot." Aeron said, unfazed.

Aelita tapped her bracelet and her wings flared out. She flew into the air and soared off.

Aeron watched her go. "She looks like an angel. I suppose you like her that much, Jeremy?"

Jeremy's mouth dropped open. "How did you know?"

"I know all and see all." Aeron said smugly. "Just don't let it get in the way of what's at stake."

Aeron ran after Aelita, making a mental note to explain later that which needed to be explained.


	5. Chapter 4: Scorpions in the Arctic?

**Above the Factory:**

The Apache had finished loading up the spectre and accelerated toward in a certain direction.

Jeremy observed it and frowned. _What could XANA be up to?_ He wondered.

Jeremy scanned the area that the Apache was heading for. Immediately, he found a building with a supercomputer contained within.

"Not good." Jeremy muttered. "Aeron! Aelita! Hurry it up! XANA's heading towards a supercomputer!"

"Hey, you try getting all the way to the tower with a know-it-all yelling at you, why don't you?" Aeron asked, sprinting alongside Aelita at an unbelievable pace.

Pretty soon, they came within sight of the tower. "There it is!" Aeron said.

Aelita landed and retracted her wings. "Time to deactivate it," she said.

"Wait," Aeron said, pausing. He looked around. "There's something fishy around here…"

"I don't see what you mean, Aeron. There's nothing to speak of on my monitors." Jeremy said.

"All the same…" Aeron said, frowning.

"Well, you can just worry all day right here, but I'm going to…" Aelita was suddenly aware of a shadow looming over her that wasn't there before. She turned around, and then Aeron suddenly dove into her with a full-blown football tackle, slamming her out of the way of a huge bladed tail that buried itself in the ground.

Aeron and Aelita tumbled to a halt, and Aeron sprang up. "Oh, it's you," he muttered. "Why can't you just stay in the desert?"

"Aeron, what's wrong?" Jeremy asked.

"You've got a really big bug in your radar, Einstein. Emphasis on really big. Technological and literal."

Aeron and Aelita stared in the face of a huge monster. It had eight legs. It had a long tail with a blade-like stinger. It glared at them with six slit-like eyes. Its body was kind of flat, but it was long. All around its body, red veins pulsated with energy, outlining the contours of its body. The monster hissed as it snapped at them with its two claws.

In all sense, it looked like a scorpion.

"I don't think that we need to argue about what to name it," Aeron said with a touch of irony in his voice. Aelita merely nodded mutely.

The Scorpion hissed and drew back its claw. Moments later, it drew several lines of light to a laser hidden within the claw and unleashed an ultra powerful laser blast, then began firing Tarantula style, one laser after another, one from each claw.

Aeron drew out his daito and began smacking away the laser bolts like crazy, doing with one blade what it usually took Ulrich two to do.

The Scorpion hissed in anger and stopped the onslaught. The veins changed color, switching to orange. It opened its claw wide, and then fire began forming in it.

"Fireball mode," Aeron muttered, raising his sword.

The Scorpion unleashed the fire in its claw in the form of a massive fireball, raging towards Aeron and Aelita at high speed. Aeron could actually feel the heat from the blast from such a far distance.

Aeron held out his sword, and moved his free hand to the guard. "_Rule over the raging heavens_…"

The sword began glowing green, shrouded with a golden nimbus. Lightning began arcing to the places where Aeron touched the sword. Aeron moved his hand along the length of the blade, transforming it into a double edged emerald blade with a golden indent. The guard changed into a pair of spikes along each edge of the blade about six inches long, similarly colored and facing with the point toward the end of the blade.

"_Tsubasa no Rai-oh!_" Aeron shouted. He gathered icy energy, forming it into a dragon shape, with red eyes.

"Hear my call, Hyorinmaru!" Aeron shouted, sending the icy dragon toward the fireball. The dragon opened its mouth, and swallowed up the fireball, absorbing its heat and turning it into cold. It then continued on to slam into the Scorpion, knocking it backwards twenty meters. The mighty monster managed to keep the dragon from swallowing it by holding its mouth open with its claws. It pulled back its tail and repeatedly shot fireballs into the maw of the dragon, slowly melting it from the inside.

The Scorpion hissed, and would've narrowed its eyes-if it weren't for the fact that you can't really narrow slits. Its veins suddenly turned blue-white, and then it radiated a white glow.

"Now what?" Aeron asked.

The Scorpion pulled back its claw, and then began rapidly shooting white beams of energy at them. Aeron raised his blade and tried to block one, but his eyes widened in alarm as he was forced backwards. He jumped and pushed Aelita out of the way of the volley.

The Scorpion stopped its onslaught for a moment, and charged up its attack. Then it unleashed it in an even faster volley of energy that almost looked like a full-blown beam.

Aeron conjured a wall of ice in front of them, barely blocking the onslaught. The wall was decimated, though.

Aeron sprinted forward and vaulted over the Scorpion, aiming for its Eye of XANA and firing a volley of icicles at it.

The Scorpion hissed and moved at unbelievable speed, avoiding every single icicle. Then it blasted a beam at Aeron, knocking him out of the sky. Aeron crash landed somewhere else, causing a large crater to form on impact.

"Aeron!" Aelita called out, concerned for his safety. Then she heard the sounds of the Scorpion charging up three simultaneous blasts, and turned, seeing it in front of her eyes.

The Scorpion hissed triumphantly and unleashed its attack, while Aelita closed her eyes and braced for the impact…

…which never came. The light from the blast was suddenly blocked, and Aelita was suddenly aware of an intense energy field. She opened her eyes to see Aeron standing in front of her, blocking the full force of all blasts. Aeron was barely holding up to the intense power; he was giving way inch by inch. However, Aelita saw a wing-like energy field flaring out from Aeron's back, preventing the force of the blast from slipping past him.

Aeron finally lost traction and was thrown backwards, smashing hard into Aelita and sending both flying.

Aeron saw the Scorpion's veins return to a red color. _Now,_ he thought.

Aeron pointed at the Scorpion. "_Hadō 88: Hiryugekizokushintenraiho!" _Aeron uttered.

A bright blue bolt of lightning flared towards the Scorpion, then thousands more joined it to form a massive blast of electricity, colliding with the Scorpion and creating an enormous explosion that rocked all of Lyoko with its power.

Aeron and Aelita continued to fly backwards a bit, and then they touched down on the back, tumbling head over heels before finally coming to a stop.

"Ow," Aeron said, wincing as he felt the back of his head. "That new mode sure packed a lot of power."

Aelita got up and walked over to him. "Are you all right?"

"Nothing time won't mend," Aeron replied.

Aelita smiled and extended a hand. Aeron took it, and Aelita hauled him to his feet.

Briefly, both of them paused, looking each other in the eye.

_This has happened before,_ both of them thought at the exact same time. They didn't know where this feeling came from, and how it came to be. However, both of them were sure of one thing:

They had met before.

This little moment of déjà-vu was interrupted by Jeremy yelling, "Hello? Guys? We have a tower to deactivate!"

"Okay, Jeremy. No need to get your tail in a twist," Aeron replied. "Or whatever else you can twist."

Aelita sprinted towards the tower, briefly glancing at the smoking remains of the Scorpion. The Scorpion slowly evaporated, leaving no trace that it had ever been there.

Aeron looked around, satisfied that there was no threat to Aelita.

Aelita entered the tower and levitated to the top level, and conjured up the data screen.

Meanwhile, the Apache was drawing closer and closer to the facility.

Aelita placed her hand on the screen. It flashed, and lit up with her name. Then it said, CODE: LYOKO.

The Apache deactivated in midair, and fell towards the ground. XANA's spectre faded into nonexistence, cut off from the main entity.

Aeron looked up and said, "Hey, we could use a time reversion. That Apache could make a heck of a mess when it hits ground."

"Way ahead of you," Jeremy replied. "Return to the past, now!"

A wave of energy flared out of the factory and reverted time to the day before…


	6. Chapter 5: The Truth Revealed!

**Kadic Academy, one hour before:**

Jeremy and the others found themselves back in Jeremy's room, exactly where they had been before they had ventured to the factory.

"Well, Einstein, that's one handy program," they heard someone remark from the computer. The gang turned and saw Aeron watching them from the computer screen.

"Hmm. So this is where my e-mail got to. Nice room, Jeremy." Aeron said, looking around the room.

"Thanks. What're you doing in Lyoko?"

"Get over to the factory, materialize me, and I'll explain everything that I can."

"Great. Another huge waste of energy," Odd muttered as they filed out of the room.

"That's just you being lazy." Aeron said.

"Shut up!" Odd snapped, annoyed that this newbie was already joking around with him.

The door slammed into Odd's backside as he exited, throwing him into the opposite wall.

"ODD?!!" everyone yelled, shocked.

"Ow…" Odd said, sitting up.

"Well, well, owned by a door. You should be ashamed of yourself." Aeron said smugly from the computer screen.

Odd shook his fist at the screen. "I'll get you for this!"

Aeron shrugged. "_Nannari_," he said in an offhanded way, and signed off.

"What did he say?" Odd asked.

"He said whatever in Japanese." Yumi informed him.

"Great. Another Japanese person." Odd muttered as they went.

* * *

Jeremy got to the supercomputer while the others were in the scanner room, waiting for Aeron to materialize.

"Materialization, Aeron!" Jeremy declared, initiating the materialization sequence.

Aeron closed his eyes as he dissolved into a frame of data and was sucked into the real world.

In the scanner room, the others waited as the scanner powered up and opened, revealing a towering teenager. Towering being six feet five inches to be precise. The others looked at him as he stumbled out of the scanner, regaining his balance quickly.

"Whew, that was a nice experience, being in Lyoko." Aeron commented, standing tall and dusting off his clothes. By the way, his outfit consisted of a green T-shirt with a dark green (unbuttoned) vest put over it, with yellow lining. He wore faded green cargo pants, and he had an odd watch on.

Jeremy came down from the computer room. "Wow, you're pretty tall."

Aeron shrugged. "So what? Being tall only means that you're going to knock your head on doorways, really."

That was an unexpected reaction. Most people want to be tall, while this guy didn't really care about his height.

"So, let's get things straight," Jeremy said as they went back into the elevator and scrolled up to the computer room. "Who exactly are you?"

"I told you already. I'm Aeron Solo."

"Yeah, we know that, but how did you get to Lyoko?"

"To tell the truth, I don't really know myself." Aeron shrugged off their astonished stares. "To tell a bit more of the truth, I'm not quite sure _who_ I am. My name and powers are all that I recall. The rest, besides a lingering fact that I'd rather not share with you, I am cut off from."

"What do you mean?" Aelita asked.

"Besides my identity and what I can, or could, do, I can't remember a thing about _my_ life. I can remember plenty of things, like all sorts of history jumbled up into thousands upon millions upon trillions upon, you get the idea, years, but I can't remember how I connect with them. I don't know if I ever had family, friends, anything that I really value. I can't recall a thing about it. I can briefly recall things, but those fragmented memories are like echoes from across a canyon that soon fade away into the wind." Aeron sighed, and briefly looked world-weary, his face betraying his potential age. "I also lost some of my powers upon entry to Lyoko. I am not what I once was. That much I am certain about."

Aelita felt her heart open up to Aeron. She had gone through something similar before, and knew how hard it was to not be able to touch the memories that mattered. Aeron's plight was worse, of course, but she had an idea of what he felt.

She put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll help you out."

Aeron looked at her. "Really?"

Aelita nodded and smiled. For just a moment, the two felt another déja-vu moment pass by. The feeling came and went, but it was clear that sometime in the past, they had met.

Aeron broke their gaze. "Alright. Judging from how the rest of you haven't said a word, I guess you agree." They all nodded.

Aeron looked at the screen. "With XANA on the loose, we're the only ones who can stop him now."

"Speaking of XANA, what's his plan now? And how did he survive?" Jeremy asked. "You implied that you knew what he's up to."

Aeron looked at him. "XANA survived your multi-agent program by withdrawing himself from the network and into the human world. The part of him that had the keys to Lyoko was destroyed, and so, he can no longer travel freely."

"However, he is able to produce spectre replicas of himself and link himself to supercomputers by integrating those spectres into the inner workings of the supercomputer in question. He still needs towers to summon them into the real world, but they can be operated along with his attacks."

"Why does he make the attacks?" Ulrich asked.

"Unlike most spectres, XANA's full blown spectres are susceptible to harm. With enough intellect, human scientists can easily figure out how to disrupt his attacks. XANA possesses stuff to escort the spectres to their possession sites and keep them from being damaged while they do their work."

"Couldn't he just materialize those spectres right at the supercomputers?" William asked.

Aeron smiled wryly. "You wish. To do that, XANA has to extend them through the network. Jeremy's multi-agent program is still at work, albeit at a much less potent degree, but enough to destroy any copies that XANA sends through. No, XANA must copy himself on-sight, and then order them to travel to the sites."

"You've been stopping his every attempt up till now, right?" Jeremy asked.

Aeron shook his head. "I did my best, but one got through. I don't know how much he's done, but he could have at least five or ten supercomputers under his thrall by now."

"But how are we going to fight him? The Skid was destroyed last year! It could take weeks to rebuild it!" Odd protested.

Aeron smiled. "Oh, leave that to me." A look in his eyes told them not to argue.

Aeron shifted. "So, about your school..."

* * *

**Kadic Academy, one day later:**

"We have a new student today," Jeremy, Aelita, Ulrich and Odd's first teacher of the day said.

"Really? Well, where is he?" Sissi asked, looking around, confused.

"To be honest, I have no idea," the teacher admitted. "He was supposed to be in this morning..."

Ulrich suddenly heard a tap on the window. He turned, and then fell out of his chair in shock. The class looked where his eyes were looking, and they all went slack-jawed at the sight.

Outside the window, Aeron was rapping on the window, his feet planted on the wall, kept in the air by a pair of cables that went up and down the wall. Aeron was currently holding onto the cables, which were linked to a device on his belt. Aeron waved, then waited. When no one moved, he sighed in annoyance and pulled another device from his belt. He pointed it at the window, and then light flared from it and went through the window, projecting onto the opposite wall these words:

_Hi! I'm Aeron Solo, the new student. Sorry I came up in this manner, but I kinda got lost and this was the easiest way to find you. Could someone please open the window?_

Ulrich got up and opened the window, which Aeron promptly jumped through. He pressed a button on the device on his belt, and the cables retracted.

"So this is your class, Ulrich." Aeron said, looking around. "Hi. Nice to meet you all."

They nodded mutely, at a loss for words. Aeron waited. "Not too much for talking, are you?" he finally asked.

"I think you killed the chatter, Aeron," Ulrich said.

"Who? Me? I wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone the chatter," Aeron said. "What did I do? Wave a katana around and chop it in half?"

Odd snorted in amusement, which allowed people to relax.

"Gooooood. I'm glad we've settled that." Aeron sat down and leaned back.

"Well, that was Aeron Solo, the new student, so let's get on with the lesson, shall we?" the teacher asked. Everyone agreed.

Jeremy glanced at Aeron and sighed. _This is going to be a long year,_ he thought.


	7. Conclusion

**Conclusion**

_**...**__And so ends the first chapter in a series of stories. I have wrought lots of mischief in my time at Kadic. Yet, no one is skilled enough to catch me. Ah, the glory days (not really, ha-ha). I am fortunate to have such friends; they stick up for me a lot. Well, next up, the __Twelve Days of X-mas__, AKA Christmas gone wacky. Twelve days turned literal with the time reversion and all. WARNING: XANA REPEATS THE SAME LAME JOKES OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN THE NEXT STORY, SO IT'LL GET A LITTLE OLD AFTER A BIT!!!! NOT MY FAULT; BLAME THAT DUMMY CALLED XANA!!!_


End file.
